Wedding pictures, dead groom found in abandoned storage unit

UPLAND, Calif. -- When Maria Blackburn opened the contents of an abandoned storage unit she bought at auction, she found wedding pictures, champagne glasses and the body of the groom.

Now, the bride who smiled back from those photos is behind bars and charged with murder.

Darlene Bourk, 31, pleaded innocent to killing Robert Bourk, the San Bernardino County district attorney's office said Thursday. Investigators believe he died in December 1996 when he was 27. It was unclear when the couple married.

Upland police Lt. Ed Gray wouldn't elaborate on the events that led to Bourk's death or say how he died, but he said Bourk would have remained listed as missing had his wife not failed to pay the Stor-King self-storage facility in Upland, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles.

After two missed $25 payments, Stor-King auctioned off the unit, and Blackburn paid $20 for its contents, which she planned to use to stock a thrift store in Los Angeles.

As she began opening the 20 to 30 boxes in the unit, she pulled out wedding photos, champagne glasses and then bloodstained clothing.

In a carefully wrapped wardrobe box, stuffed with two tarps, a blanket and a layer of thick roofing plastic, she found Bourk's body.

Stor-King manager Susie Gonzalez said Bourk called in a panic after receiving notice her belongings had been sold. She left two notes on the storage unit, saying she'd ''give anything, anything to get the storage back,'' Blackburn told The Press Enterprise of Riverside.

Police arrested Bourk on Sept. 15, the day after the auction, in nearby San Dimas where she lives.

Although most of the contents of the storage unit were taken by police as evidence, Blackburn said she was able to keep some of the items, including wedding pictures of a smiling Bourk.

''He looked like a nice, handsome man,'' she said. She said she plans to send them to Bourk's mother.